GRANT FOR PROJECT: How to preserve Cultural Diversity and Cross-Border Collaboration within the European Audiovisual Sector in the Netflix Era? Challenges and Opportunities

This CEMES project addresses currently the most debated theme in the European audiovisual sector – the disruption that the streaming services pose to the European film industry. The project’s major question is: Will the domination of the US streaming services lead to less indigenous European content with cultural value?
The statistics from 2021 undoubtedly shows that Netflix and other US streaming services have been massively taking over both the European audience and the industry professionals. The number of Netflix-subscribers increased by 20 times over the past decade, while the drain of European film and TV practitioners towards Netflix productions has already created a shortage of qualified workforce available for the European (co-)productions. This situation prompted the European policymakers to revise the EU’s Audiovisual Media Service Directive (AVMSD) in 2018 whose Article 13 now allows European countries to legally oblige the streaming services to invest both in production and promotion of European film content. Through a series of lectures, workshops and roundtables with media scholars, audiovisual policy makers and industry professionals, this project will evaluate the to-date outcome of the said policy measures as well as discuss their future developments.